Just like that, it's March! And everyone can thank our Chief of Fleet Operations for this month's newsletter; it had completely slipped my frazzled mind. March has always been busy, but this year seems to be nuttier than most. But the newsletter is here and apparently longer than ever.
March 16th is the next scheduled meeting at the home of ADM Mark & RADM Mary Bischoff. Everyone bring munchies and raffle items. 5pm is the start time; set to give everyone a chance to get ready for the infamous "Night Out" (be it "Guys" or "Girls") following the meeting. I have purchased a special shot glass for the occasion and I'm looking forward to (albeit nervously) the night.
Please be aware that there is a new treasury policy in place: if you need/wish to be rembursed by the ship, you must present the treasurer (ADM Roseann Packer) with a reciept. Not that we don't trust anyone, it's just that Roseann was upset that she didn't have enough paperwork.....just kidding!
Also, with any luck, look for upcoming updates to the Halsey website
(oh, Webmaster....).
Assuming I can track down my sanity, I'll see everyone on the 16th!
CAPT Cathy Dailey
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Upcoming Events:
March 10th--USS Defiant 10th Anniversary party
March 16th--Halsey meeting at ADM Mark & RADM Mary Bischoff's, 5pm
("Night Out" to follow)
March 30th--Starbase 06 Away Mission, Federation Science Exhibit, Louisville, KY
April 20th--Plane Wash & Halsey Meeting at Grissom Air Museum
May 18th--Halsey May meeting, 12pm (Georgetown time), the Daileys' in
Georgetown, IN
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Beamdown Coordinates:
The Family Bischoff 65 N. Tremont Ave. Indianapolis
1. Take the DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. ST. exit- exit number 114 off of I-65- towards WEST STREET
2. Merge onto N DR MARTIN LUTHER KING JR ST
3. Turn SLIGHT RIGHT onto N WEST ST
4. Turn RIGHT onto W WASHINGTON ST/US-40 W
5. Turn RIGHT onto N TREMONT ST
Hope to see everyone there!
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Birthdays & Anniversaries (Busy month!!!)
March 3 - Honorary CAPT Gates McFadden
March 10 - FCAPT Alice Doty
March 13 - CAPT Cathy & CMDR Janet Dailey
March 17 - LT Amanda Dailey
March 21 - FCAPT Maryann Simson
March 26 - FADM Don Dailey
March 28 - LTjg Sarah Sundstrom
March 30 - FADM Paul Sundstrom
March 13 - FADM Paul & ADM Sandy Sundstrom's Anniversary
********************
From the "Movie Meister" desk:
Upcoming Sci-Fi/Fantasy movies:
Showtime
Release Date: March 15, 2002
Rating: PG-13
Starring: Robert De Niro, Eddie Murphy, Rene Russo, Perdro Damian,
William Shatner, and Drena De Niro.
When a no-nonsense LAPD detective (Robert De Niro) is forced to star on a reality-based TV show with a frustrated actor-turned-LAPD patrolman (Eddie Murphy), they find their lives turned upside down by a powerhouse producer (Rene Russo) and her very intrusive camera crew.
**
Blade II
Release Date: March 22, 2002
Rating: R
Starring: Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson, Tcheky Karyo, Ron Perlman and Norman Reedus.
Exploding from the pages of Marvel Comics comes the follow-up to the blockbuster Blade. Blade (Wesley Snipes) is half man and half vampire and consumed by a desire to avenge the curse of his birth and save the human race from a blood-drenched Armageddon. In this newest adventure, Blade must align himself with a high-powered team of vampires to take on a greater evil than either has ever faced -- a new kind of super-vampire that is itself on a vicious hunt to eradicate both races.
**
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
Release Date: March 22, 2002
Rating: PG
Starring: Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace Stone, Peter Coyote, Drew Barrymore and Robert McNaughton.
"E.T. The Extra Terrestrial" is Steven Spielberg's warmhearted classic delight for both children and adults. It tells the story of an alien creature, E.T., mistakenly left behind on Earth. When a young boy, Elliott (Henry Thomas), finds E.T. and hides him in his home, both their worlds are changed forever. E.T. teaches Elliott and his two siblings (Drew Barrymore and Robert MacNaughton), whose parents have recently separated, about caring and love while the children protect E.T. from the malevolent world of grown-ups. Elliott
and E.T. become so close that they share emotions; as E.T. becomes ill, so does Elliott. The children end up going on a fabulous adventure trying to help E.T. find a way back to his home planet. The movie was originally going to be based on astory idea by director John Sayles, but after he removed himself from the project, screenwriter Melissa Mathison (Harrison Ford's wife) took over the
script and made it her own. John Williams's beautiful soundtrack became forever linked to "E.T. The Extra Terrestrial."
**
Clockstoppers
Release Date: March 29, 2002
Rating: PG
Starring: Jesse Bradford, Paula Garces, Garikayi Mutambirwa, Robin Thomas and French Stewart.
Directed by Jonathan Frakes.
A scientist invents a mechanism that speeds up any target that it hits to 25 times their normal speed, effectively making it seem to that person like time is standing still. The race is on to find a way to reverse the effects when his son (Jesse Bradford) is zapped.
**
The Scorpion King
Release Date: April 19, 2002.
Starring: The Rock, Michael Clarke Duncan, Kelly Hu, Ralf Moeller
Inspired by the legendary Egyptian warrior, "The Scorpion King" is set 5,000 years ago in the notorious city of Gomorrah, where an evil ruler is determined to lay waste to all the nomadic peoples of the desert. The few remaining tribes, never natural allies, have to unite or perish. Knowing their enemy relies on the visions of a sorcerer, they hire a skilled assassin, Mathayus (The Rock), to eliminate the visionary. After infiltrating the enemy camp, Mathayus discovers that the sorcerer is in fact a beautiful woman (Kelly Hu). Rather than eliminate her, he takes her deep into the desert badlands, knowing
that the ruler's henchmen will stop at nothing to rescue her and bring her back. Seriously wounded in the ensuing battle, Mathayus must find the strength to lead his scrappy band of allies back to Gomorrah for a final confrontation.
MPAA Rating: Not Rated.
**
Spiderman
Release Date: May 3, 2002
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Willem Dafoe, James Franco, J.K. Simmons
Based on the legendary flagship character of Marvel comics, this is the story of Peter Parker, a high school student living with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben after the death of his parents when he was just a baby. He's an avid student with a much-less-than-stellar social life and a knack for bad luck. While attending a scientific demonstration, a freak accident bombards a stray spider with radiation, and that same spider finds its way onto the unsuspecting Peter's body and bites him, miraculously granting him incredible spider-like
abilities; in effect, making him into the amazing Spider-Man. Peter will find that there's a thin line between an ordinary man and an extraordinary hero; and he'll have to be the one to cross it.
**
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones
Release Date: May 16, 2002
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Samuel L Jackson, Ian McDiarmid
Ten years after the events of THE PHANTOM MENACE, not only has the galaxy undergone significant change, but so have our familiar heroes Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), Padmé Amidala (Natalie Portman) and Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) as they are thrown together again for the first time since the Trade Federation invasion of Naboo. Anakin has grown into the accomplished Jedi apprentice of Obi-Wan, who himself has transitioned from student to teacher. The two Jedi are assigned to protect Padmé whose life is threatened by a
faction of political separatists. As relationships form and powerful forces collide, these heroes face choices that will impact not only their own fates, but the destiny of the Republic.
**
Minority Report
Release Date: June 28, 2002
Starring: Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton, Peter Stormare, Max Von Sydow
Based on the short story by Philip K. Dick, MINORITY REPORT is set in a 2054 Washington D.C. judicial system in which killers are arrested and convicted before they commit murder using a psychic technology. Tom Cruise is the head of this Precrime unit and is himself accused of the future murder of a man he hasn't even met.
**
Eight Legged Freaks
Release Date: July 12, 2002
Starring: David Arquette, Kari Wuhrer, Scarlett Johansson, Matt Czuchry, Doug E. Doug
What do you get when you cross toxic waste with a bunch of exotic spiders? Eaten. As every fan of classic spine-tinglers knows, given the opportunity and the right chemical enhancement, arachnids will grow to humongous size and wreak havoc upon humanity. In EIGHT LEGGED FREAKS, the residents of a rural mining town discover that an unfortunate chemical spill has caused hundreds of little spiders to mutate overnight to the size of SUVs. And they're hungry.
**
Men in Black 2
Release Date: July 3, 2002
Starring: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Lara Flynn Boyle, Johnny Knoxville, Michael Jackson
Agents J and K (Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones) are back for more battles with alien rabble-rousers who take the form of a host of estrogen-charged extraterrestrials. These aliens are led by an arch nemesis played by Famke Janssen. Of course, the notorious worm creatures from the original film will return to wreak havoc as well.
**
Powerpuff Girls: The Movie
Release Date: July, 2002
Starring: Cathy Cavadini, Tara Charendoff, E. G. Daily, Tom Kenny, Tom Kane
Based on the hit animated television series, this feature film adaptation tells the story of how Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup three exuberant young girls obtain their unique powers, become superheroes and join forces to foil evil mutant monkey Mojo Jojo's plan to take over the world.
**
Signs
Release Date: August 2, 2002
Starring: Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Cherry Jones, Rory Culkin, Abigail Breslin
Writer/Director M. Night Shyamalan follows up THE SIXTH SENSE and UNBREAKABLE with his new feature film, SIGNS, a thriller set in Bucks County, Pennsylvania focusing on the mysterious appearance of a five-hundred-foot design of circles and lines carved into a family's crops. Mel Gibson stars as Graham Hess, the family patriarch, who is tested in his journey to find the truth behind the unfolding mystery. Joaquin Phoenix is Merrill Hess, brother to Graham and a former minor league baseball star.
**
Psychic
Release Date: October 11, 2002
Starring: Cuba Gooding, Jr.
Not much is known about this film, but it's been referred to as a cross between "Seven" and "12 Monkeys" by its director.
**
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Release Date: November 15, 2002
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Kenneth Branagh, John Cleese, Rupert Grint, David Bradley
The follow-up to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone finds young wizard Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and his friends Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) facing new challenges during their second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as they try to discover a dark force that is terrorizing the school.
**
Treasure Planet
Release Date: November 27, 2002
The legendary "loot of a thousand worlds" inspires an intergalactic treasure hunt when fifteen- year-old Jim Hawkins stumbles upon a map to the greatest pirate trove in the universe in Walt Disney Pictures' animated space adventure, "Treasure Planet." Based on Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, this film follows Jim's journey across a parallel universe as cabin boy aboard a glittering space galleon. Befriended by the ship's charismatic cyborg (part man, part machine) cook John Silver, Jim blossoms under his guidance, and shows the makings of a fine spacer as he and the alien crew battle supernovas,
black holes and ferocious space storms. But even greater dangers lie ahead when Jim discovers that his trusted friend Silver is actually a scheming pirate with mutiny in mind. Confronted with a betrayal that cuts deep into his soul, Jim is transformed from boy to man as he finds the strength to face down the mutineers and discovers a treasure greater than he had ever imagined.
**
Star Trek X: Nemesis
Release Date: December 20, 2002
Starring: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Marina Sirtis
The cast of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" returns on a diplomatic mission to initiate peace with the Romulans. But upon arrival to the alien planet, the crew is faced with a threat that could lead to the Earth's destruction, and Picard meets his most dangerous adversary yet, a surprisingly personal nemesis.
**
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Release Date: December 25, 2002
Starring: Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Ian McKellen, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee
The second in the Tolkien trilogy. Frodo the hobbit, braves terrible dangers in an attempt to have the evil ring destroyed.
**
The Core
Release Date: TBD 2002
Starring: Aaron Eckhart, Hilary Swank, Delroy Lindo, Bruce Greenwood, Stanley Tucci
Geophysicist Dr. Josh Keyes (Eckhart) discovers that an unknown force has caused the Earth's inner core to stop rotating. With the planet's magnetic field rapidly deteriorating, our atmosphere literally starts to come apart at the seams with catastrophic consequences. To resolve the crisis, Keyes, along with a team of the world's most gifted scientists, travel into the Earth's core in a subterranean craft piloted by "terranauts," Major Rebecca "Beck" Childs (Swank) and Colonel Robert Iverson (Greenwood). Their mission: detonate a device that will reactivate the core.
**
Daredevil
Release Date: February 14, 2003
Starring: Ben Affleck, Michael Clarke Duncan, Jennifer Garner, Colin Farrell
Based on the popular Marvel Comics character, this is the story of Matt Murdock, son of a boxer who gets killed by petty criminals for refusing to take a dive. This drives young Matt to fight crime, despite a childhood accident that robbed him of his sight. That same accident, however, also granted him exceptionally advanced senses of hearing, touch, taste and smell, as well as providing him with a strange sort of mental radar that helps to compensate for his lack of vision. After training hard in the martial arts, as well as excelling in law school, Murdock becomes a lawyer by day and a vigilante
calling himself Daredevil by night.
**
X2
Release Date: May 2, 2003
Starring: Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Famke Janssen, Halle Berry, James Marsden
Professor Xavier and the gang return in the first sequel of what is rumored to be a trilogy series. Look forward to seeing new mutants join the team, including Gambit, Beast and Nightcrawler. (More details coming soon.)
**
The Matrix Reloaded
Release Date: May 2003
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Laurence Fishburne, Hugo Weaving, Daniel Bernhardt
Neo (Keanu Reeves) returns as "The One", in this sequel to the 1999 original that influenced several other action films (and comedy parodies as well) with it's innovative camera techniques and over-the-top fighting scenes. (More details coming soon.) MPAA Rating: Not Rated.
**
Hulk
Release Date: June 20, 2003
Starring: Eric Bana, Jennifer Connelly, Nick Nolte, Sam Elliott, Josh Lucas
In this adaptation of the long-running Marvel comic "The Incredible Hulk," research scientist Dr. Bruce Banner's failed experiments cause him to mutate into a monstrously powerful and savage green-skinned behemoth whenever he loses control of his emotions. He is subsequently hunted down by the U.S. military and constantly unappreciated despite his heroic efforts.
**
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
Release Date: Summer 2003
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold is back, once again, as the cyborg from the future. (More details coming soon.)
**
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Release Date: December 25, 2003
Starring: Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Ian McKellen, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee
The third of the trilogy. As the shadow of Mordor grows across the land, Aragorn is revealed as the hidden heir to the ancient kings. Gandolf miraculously returns and defeats the evil wizard, Saruman. Sam leaves his master for the dead after a battle with the giant spider, Shelob; but Frodo is still alive--in the hands of the Orcs. And while the armies of the Dark Lord are massing--and the one ring comes ever closer to the Cracks of Doom.
**
Superman Lives
Release Date: TBD
The first Superman film since "Superman 4: Quest for Peace," it's based on the flagship character of DC Comics - the familiar red, yellow and blue iconic superhero previously played by George Reeves and Christopher Reeve, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. It's only tentatively titled "Superman Lives."
**********************
From the "Oops, We're Colorblind" Desk:
Universe Is Beige, Not Green
Thu Mar 7, 5:59 PM ET
By Deborah Zabarenko
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Red-faced astronomers said Thursday they were mistaken when they reported that the universe is light green. It's really beige.
"It was more colorful than it should have been, unfortunately," said Ivan Baldry, a post-doctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University who co-authored the scholarly paper that gave the color of all the light in the universe.
"It's much closer to white, really," Baldry said in a telephone interview. "More like cream."
Baldry and Karl Glazebrook, an assistant professor of astronomy at the university, presented data at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in January finding that the color of the universe was a bit greener than pale turquoise.
The notion of stating a definitive color of all the universe's light was a whimsical one, destined to be nothing more than a footnote in their final paper, Baldry said.
Finding the color was a byproduct of an examination of some 200,000
galaxies to determine the rate of star birth as the universe aged.
By giving a numeric value to the colors of the different galaxies,
adding them together and then averaging them, they came up with their
color, which they dubbed cosmic spectrum green.
But soon after this finding was announced, Mark Fairchild at the Munsell Color Science Laboratories at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York contacted them to say that the computer program the Hopkins astronomers used inappropriately had set a feature known as the "white point."
The white point is the point at which light appears white to the human eye in different kinds of illumination. The Hopkins astronomers' white point was redder than it should have been, as if the universe was viewed under red neon light.
"It's our fault for not taking the color science seriously enough,"
Glazebrook said in a statement. "I'm very embarrassed. I don't like being wrong, but once I found out I was, I knew I had to get the word out."
The new color of the universe, as viewed from outside the universe from a dark environment, is very light beige, but Baldry and Glazebrook do not much care for that term.
In an updated version of their findings, they showed a patch of a color just slightly darker than a white eggshell.
"Good luck if you can see the difference between this color and white!" they wrote. "Suggestions for the name are welcome. As long as it is not 'beige'!"
***********************
From the "Groaning Pun" desk:
A Russian couple were walking down the street in Moscow one night, when the man felt a drop hit his nose.
"I think it's raining", he said to his wife.
"No, that felt more like snow to me", she replied.
"No, I'm sure it was just rain" he said.
Well, as these things go, they were about to have a major argument about whether it was raining or snowing. Just then they saw a Communist Party official walking toward them.
"Let's not fight about it", the man said, "Let's ask Comrade Rudolph
whether it's officially raining or snowing".
As the official approached, the man said,
"Tell us, Comrade Rudolph, is it officially raining or snowing?"
"It's raining, of course", he replied, and walked on.
But the woman insisted: "I know that felt like snow!", to which the
man quietly replied: "Rudolph the Red, knows rain, dear."
********************
end transmission
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